These Putin Piano Playing Theories Insinuate There's More To It Than Music

During his time as a leader in Russia, President Vladimir Putin has proven his musical talents on more than one occasion. When he sat down in front of a baby grand while waiting to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Sunday, however, Putin's piano playing was probably more than just a way to pass the time, and it's heightened the interest of people all over the place.

There are a number of signs you can see in the video — the way he negatively (if subtly) reacts to an off-key instrument; his choice of songs, which were all Soviet classics; and his little whisper before shutting the piano and walking away. All of these together, plus the fact that he was playing piano at all, have sparked a number of theories about his choice to give this little recital.

The first, “Evening Song,” is an unofficial anthem of the city of St. Petersburg, although the song's lyrics refer to it as Leningrad, which was its name during the Soviet period. The second was "Moscow Windows," a song about friendship. Both became popular during the late 1950s, soon after Stalin died, when Putin was a child, when the Soviet Union held dominion over many of its surrounding countries, and before the USSR and China started to disagree on the direction that communism should go. The Sino-Soviet split, as it's often called, happened in the early 1960s.

"It's a pity that the piano was out of tune," Putin said at a press briefing. "It was quite hard to play, even for me, someone who plays with two fingers. I cannot say I played, I was just pressing the keys with two or three fingers."

Even in his brief words on the subject, then, he managed to criticize China on their failure to take care of the instrument while at the same time humble bragging about his ability. When trying to decode Putin's actions, it makes sense to consider the way his predecessors, the leaders of the Soviet Union, acted: Everything was planned, and nothing was without symbolism. So while he may not say up front what he actually meant by playing this piano, it was almost certainly more than just a spontaneous recital.